Blogs

The Cross and Crosses | 1888 Essential Reading

The Cross and Crosses          (Click title for PDF download)

THE failure with many people is that they make a distinction between the cross of Christ and their own crosses. There is no cross that comes to any person on earth, except the cross of Christ. If we will always remember this, it will be life and joy to us. 

Self-denial

E. J. Waggoner

From our youth up we have heard that “Self-preservation is the first law of nature.” This is true; but nature must give way to grace, if we would be saved; and self-denial is the first law of grace; for when Christ was in the form of God, He “counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, but emptied Himself” (Phil. 2:6, 7); and He says: “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matt. 16:24).

The Cross Involves Shame and Reproach

Ellen G. White

"The cross of Christ has been presented to Brother P; but he has turned away from it, for it involves shame and reproach rather than the honor and praise of the world. Again and again Jesus has called: Take up the cross and follow Me, so shall ye be My disciple. But other voices have been calling in the direction of worldly pride and ambition; and he has listened to these voices because their spirit is more pleasing to the natural heart. He has turned from Jesus, divorced himself from God, and embraced the world.

Testimonies: Take Up His Cross

Ellen G. White

"God has spoken, and He means that man shall obey. He does not inquire if it is convenient for him to do so. The Lord of life and glory did not consult His convenience or pleasure when He left His station of high command to become a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, accepting ignominy and death in order to deliver man from the consequence of his disobedience. Jesus died, not to save man in his sins, but from his sins.

Symbol of Submission to God’s Will

Ellen G. White

(Matthew 16:24; 9:23.) —We are to bear the yoke of Christ that we may be placed in complete union with Him. “Take my yoke upon you,” He says. Obey My requirements. But these requirements may be in direct opposition to the will and purposes of the human agent. What then is to be done? Hear what God says: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” The yoke and the cross are symbols representing the same thing,—the giving up of the will to God.

Christ Bears the Sin in Us

E. J. Waggoner

It is evident from what has been said that whoever bears my sins must come where I am, yea, must come into me. And this is just what Christ does. Christ is the Word, and to all sinners, who would excuse themselves by saying that they can not know what God requires of them, He says, “The Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” Deut. 30:11-14.

Indispensable Good Works | 1888 Essential Reading

E. J. Waggoner

THE Bible holds out no promise of a reward for laziness. In God’s plan no provision is made for idleness. Heaven is pictured before us as a place of activity, and heavenly beings as untiring workers. The Saviour said, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working” (John 5:17), and again “I must work the works of Him who sent Me” (John 9:4). Of the angels we read that they are all “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14).

The Revelation of Christ | 1888 Essential Reading

E. J. Waggoner 

“When it pleased God. . . . to reveal His Son in me” (Gal. 1:15, 16). Note the exact words. The apostle does not say that it pleased God to reveal His Son to him but in him. Moreover, he does not say that it pleased God to put His Son into him, but to reveal His Son in him. There is a great truth in this, which stands out very plainly in connection with some other texts.